Saying Goodbye To The Plants and Animals
We Depart for the Airport
...and I Mange to Scrape my Heel
Open Again
Going Down the Stairs
Not Too Much Traffic in Manila
So We Arrive at the B Hotel
in Around Just Two Hours
A Good Start to the Day
Exploring Green Manila on the Way to
The Capitol Medical Center
Then Lots of Waiting, Consulting, Paying
and Testing
Before Getting A Taxi Back for Dinner
To A Japanese Style Lunch
Collecting More Cash as we Pass "GO"
Before Receiving and Evaluating Results at the CMC
Afterwards We Explore an Urban Garden Center
then Visit a Korean Grocery Store and a local
Supermarket
Before Having a Snack in a Local Chinese Family
Restaurant
And Dinner on the Hotel Balcony
Followed By a Diet of International News
More Bad News for Breakfast
But Another Nice Surprise From the Hotel Cleaning
Staff
Off To Healthways in SM North Mall for a Second X-Ray and
A Pulmonologist
But I leave My Camera in the Taxi -and Need help from
the B Hotel Front Desk to Locate The Driver
More Breakfast News
and We Consult the CMC Specialist on
Infectious Diseases for TB and Other Tests
Back to SM North Avenue to Pick Up
X-Rays
As The Bad News Continues
So We Get Help from the Hotel Front
Desk with Booking a Flight Home
Then Enjoy Our Dinner
Relaxing in the Hotel All Day
Pack and Leave the Hotel
Followed by Lunch in Figaro's
and Our Departure for Bohol
There is Now Much Less Traffic in Manila
A Colourful Light-Show
...and Finally Back Home
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Tuesday, 17 Mar 2020 12:59:36 +0800 Fatima writes:
Trevor and I are on Day 7 of our Self-quarantine. Having spent 6 days
in Quezon City, Metro Manila (currently on 'Expanded Community Quarantine'
--- a sort of lock-down), we figured it would be very anti-social if we went out.
While in Quezon City, I got to see several doctors, plus a Pulmonologist and an
Infectious Disease doctor. I'll need more tests later (probably next year,
considering how things are going at the moment). Radiologists keep seeing things
in my x-ray (fibrosis) but the Pulmonologist sees nothing wrong (he listened to my lungs
and asked me to take deep breaths and blow air out hard through the mouth.
Seems to be a test for fibrosis) - and I passed the test. Tuberculosis test was also
negative. So, most likely, the problem is - which is what the Infectious Disease doctor suggested
-something called "Cat Scratch Fever" <https://www.healthline.com/health/cat-scratch-disease>
- and my symptoms coincide with the description of the disease. Also possible is brucellosis,
but most likely, Cat Scratch Fever.
We have 5 cats - and they are all outside cats that love to colonize us at home.
They sleep in our beds, lick the pans, drink water from the bath water in the buckets,
scratch themselves on the kitchen counter over our dishes and cups, pee on cutlery, windows, doors, etc.
I have imposed a strict cat quarantine through regular whacks with the sofa cushion.
Meanwhile, since the lock-down in Metro Manila, my sister is off work and has to look after 2 kids,
plus our 83 year old mom and 93 year old aunt. Auntie is bedridden for 15 months now, her 12-hour caregiver may not be able to come to work because of the lock-down. It is also probably better not to allow any outsiders into the house anyway so my sis has asked the laundrywoman to stay home and follow the community quarantine rules. My brother-in-law, who works out of town and comes home on
weekends, will not be able to come home during the expanded community quarantine. I feel terrible not being able to help her out but she's doing OK.
Here, quarantine is not as difficult for Trevor and myself since we normally go out just once a week for paying bills, and buying items not available in our village, such as German bread, butter and milk. But somehow being told to stay home feels a bit odd .... I guess I just don't like being told what to do... ;) Bohol and many other provinces are under self-imposed community quarantine for at least 2 weeks. Schools have also been closed.
We've also asked Penny, our household help, to work much shorter hours since last year, so our dependence on her is much much less. She's been paid her wages for the month so she should be OK
not working. Also better for us not to have any outsiders in the house for the next couple of weeks ...
or longer ...
In Metro Manila, with a population of over 12 million people, the hardest hit are the urban poor and the working class. The employment policy for them is often 'No Work, No Pay." The urban poor also live in very small, densely populated enclaves, where such things as "Social Distancing" is just impossible...
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Saturday, 21 Mar 2020 13:22:25 +0800 Fatima writes:
Some of the things that people are doing in my country (Philippines), on their own volition,
to help their communities during the COVID-19 lock-down/quarantine. These are all in Luzon island
where Metro Manila is, the hot spot of local transmission. People don't just wait for
their local governments to act. Even the farmers are helping out. These people help rather than brag about being 'away from it all.'
How are people helping each other out in your place?
1. A 34-room hotel in Baguio City is offered as containment center for
COVID-19 persons under investigation with mild symptoms.The hotel has
complete lodging facilities and the city can use it for free thanks to
the benevolent owner.
2. In the midst of the Covid-19 a small food shop is transformed into
a homeless shelter. The shelter will be open daily from 6pm-6am every
evening until April 12. Dinner will be served at 6:30pm.
3. A man gives his taho (a Philippine snack food made of fresh
soft/silken tofu, arnibal, and sago pearl) for free for front liners
at a checkpoint along the Valenzuela-Meycauayan City boundary.
This man has been a taho vendor for 27 years.
4. Farmers in the Cordillera give vegetables for free.
5. In Bagong Silangan, Quezon City, a family has set up a 'Drive-Thru'
in their own home giving cooked meals for pedicab drivers and garbage
collectors.
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-----------------------Monday, 23 March 2020 Trevor writes:
I had a bit of a head cold (probably from the air-con in Manila -plus a touch of bronchitis -but gargling and drinking oregano tea seems to keep everything reasonably in check. I do feel a bit tired -but also did some fairly heavy work in the garden recently -so that can explain that. Penny has been in once or twice -to fetch shopping from the market -and the animal feedstuffs guy delivered today.
Apart from that -we see nobody from "outside". It seems I'm now not allowed out -and Fatima has to wear a mask. Only 8 people allowed in a jeepney.
As far as we know -the island is fairly free of COVID-19 cases -but caution is still advised.
Lets hope the storm passes without too much damage. But I guess some things will have to change soon -hopefully for the better.....
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Manila
Holiday
Cebu
A Wrong Step
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Province of Bohol COVID-19 Report: As of March 28, 2020
Recorded PUM (Patients Under Monitoring, asymptomatic home quarantine): 8,577
PUI (Patients Under Investigation):
Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (Admitted to Hospital): 5
Influenza-Like Illness: 22 Admitted, 463 home quarantine
Confirmed Covid-19 Case: 0
Meanwhile, our local council (Barangay) has just started issuing emergency relief goods (5 kg of rice and 4 tins of sardines) to every family in their jurisdiction. We have donated ours to others who need them more.
They are also issuing "Curfew Passes" allowing only one member of each family to leave their house at a time. People at Risk are not allowed out.
It seems there are currently no officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the island -but this my be due to a lack of testing kits.
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Do try this at home: how one Italian town fought corona-virus
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